7 Fixes for Common Writing Mistakes [Examples]

While I agree middle school is hard, I think writing is challenging. As it’s been said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed.”

Do we need to bleed when we write?

When you reframe writing as a practice, you can sit in the discomfort of knowing it’s never going to be completely easy. One of the joys of writing is that as soon as you reach the next level, the next mountain peak is staring at you. It’s like yoga, Pilates, golf, or medicine or law – it’s called a practice because when you stick with it you will improve.

But, as with any practice, there are things you can put in place to make it easier. I’m examining some techniques so you can have more writing tools to add to your toolbox.

Monkey mind of writing

Sometimes, when I sit down to write, thoughts are flowing through my head like a mighty river. But they won’t translate to the page the way I want them to. I developed two techniques to combat that monkey voice:

Below are seven common writing problems and the fixes I use when I can’t type the words the way I need them to be. Later, I will go back, see where I’m going with what I wrote, and fix it. Or, I’ll ask an editor to help me.

1. Burying the lede

Writers make choices. Sometimes you make outstanding choices. And sometimes they are downright bad. Here’s an example of a writer who chose to talk more than necessary before getting to the delicious meat of the blog:

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Where’s the beauty in this piece? The polished gem of persuasion? In the fifth paragraph.

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Fix: An excellent way to find your lede is to look at the bottom of your piece or the last paragraph before you introduce a new idea. It’s usually there, peeking out like an excited child playing hide and seek. Grab that fabulous example and paste it at the top.

Remember, as a writer, it’s your goal to give people the information they need to make decisions. Don’t make them wait for it. Otherwise, they’ll abandon your content like people in line for a sold-out movie.

2. Too much jargon or too technical

As a writer, you think everyone recognizes your ideas and your vocabulary around those ideas. But if your audience doesn’t share your vocabulary, they won’t know or want to work hard to understand what you’re saying.

Using jargon to impress does the opposite, like wearing too much cologne on your first date. You know what works? KISS – keep it simple, stupid. (You are not stupid, but all writers need a bit of humility every now and again).

This content from IBM is confusing, yucky, and doesn’t really get to the point.

Fix: Check out how KPMG does it – its content gets to the point quickly, simply, and without asking you to believe their writers have advanced degrees.

3. It’s about us, not you

Only boring people talk about themselves all the time. Interesting people are interested in others. You should be interested in your customers – after all, they’re keeping you in business. Focus your content on addressing their pain points and needs AFTER you talk about them.

Verizon is so busy telling you about its technology it forgets to connect the dots of what truly matters to the customer.

Fix: What matters to customers? The benefits they will receive from using your service. Xfinity talks about speed, coverage, and control. These are the benefits customers want in their Wi-Fi provider.

4. Tone deaf

I really try to avoid this one, but I do it all the time. (Maybe I shouldn’t focus on it so much, and it won’t chase me?) In any case, tone deaf content addresses the user in a way that comes across as too familiar, insensitive, or just plain weird. Here’s an example from Loft:

Really, creepers? My friend was offended by this email. She felt like the brand was letting her know that it tracked her purchases. She knows it does but didn’t want to be reminded of it. And she hated all the blouses Loft said she would like. What a dangerous tactic to think you know your customer and then get it wrong. Like, #fail.

5. Frankenstein content

You likely know this content problem if you’re an experienced writer. The text reads as if it was written by members of a committee who had different goals they were trying to accomplish. Usually the best way to diagnose this type of content is to notice when the voice and tone swish around the page like a snake’s tail. Here’s an example:

Notice the “yep” and the “ahem”? But later down the page, this “wink-wink” tone disappears.

Fix: Better to follow industry standard – no more than two editors. If you just spit out your coffee or hit your screen with your head in disbelief, remember it’s a goal, not somewhere you are. If you have more than two editors and a bajillion writers, you’re not satisfying your customers’ needs. Truth.

6. Flabby content

Oh flabbiness: Be gone from the world, from our bodies, and from our writing. Flabby content is easy to diagnose. It makes grandiose claims with no supporting statistics or proof points.

Fix: What are your client retention rates? Are they industry standard? Are they a percentage? Tell me, so I can believe you. Follow the lessons of Journalism 101. You need two sources and you can’t write it unless you can support it. Put backbone into your content by verifying that what you’re saying is indeed something you can prove.

7. Sea of sameness content

Boring, boring, bored. Don’t bother saying the same thing everyone else says. Here’s how Vistage does it right and then gets it wrong on the next screen.

On the home page, the value proposition is bold and unique: Who wouldn’t want to grow their company 2.2 times faster than other businesses?

But on the second page Vistage doesn’t give the reasons viewers need to believe the methodology will work.

Fix: However, when you look at Entrepreneurs’ Organization, it gives proof points that make you want to join (full disclosure: I’m a member of EO, but I had nothing to do with its content).

Conclusion

Every writer has tools in their toolbox. Some are razor-edged. But some have become blunt. These techniques will help you sharpen those tools and diagnose when you’re taking the easy way out.

Remember, sometimes you go to the mat, and sometimes the mat goes to you. As a writer, both are going to get the best out of you. Just keep plugging away.

Namaste.

Learn from the orator who said writing isn’t hard, middle school is hard, and many more experts in their content fields. Register for Content Marketing World Sept. 4-7 in Cleveland, Ohio. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Author: Ahava Leibtag

Based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Ahava Leibtag is a Web content strategist and writer. She leads AHA Media Group, a Web and content consulting firm, and authors the blog Online it ALL Matters. She thinks 60 words is way too few to communicate why she’s interesting. You can connect with Ahava on Twitter at @ahaval.

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Burying the lede is one I see a lot. Part of why that may be happening is writing for SEO. Longer articles do tend to rank better, but it’s because of the richer content and good user experience, not just words for the sake of words.

I tend to bail on articles that don’t get to the point quickly. Good writing should let the reader know what’s coming and make a promise about what the reader will get–fast. There’s too much content out there. Why risk losing the reader with fluff or “empty” content on the page.

Ahava Aaron Leibtag

Totally agree Steve! Thanks.

https://tushar.blog Tushar Kumar

I rarely get time to check what big brands are doing in the content marketing space. Thank you for updating me. It was funny how you ended the post with “Namaste”. Well, this was an excellent read. Namaste. 🙂

Ahava Aaron Leibtag

Namaste right back! And enjoy going to that yoga/writing mat again and again.

GearHint 🎧 📱 📷 🤳

I used to write content with too many jargons. And I noticed poor ranking in SERPs is even users did not read whole content nor share any comment. I asked an expert to review content I published over my platform and he suggested to me to keep the content simple with a high rate of readability. I improved my writing style, and I noticed an improvement in ranking, as well as users, started sharing their comments.

Ahava Aaron Leibtag

That’s great feedback. I think we often forget that writing is about communicating to an audience. Yes, if they can’t find the content that’s a problem. But stuffing it with keywords and jargon that they don’t use won’t make them want to read it anymore.

MichaelMolligan

Ahava, thank you for an excellent article with a lot of good information. I think we’ve all seen and been guilty of these sins at one time or another. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention that your lede is a comma splice. Most readers probably wouldn’t be bothered by this, but coming as it does below a headline about common writing mistakes, I had to make myself get past this to be able to appreciate the rest of your informative content. Sorry to be “that guy,” but, well, I’m that guy. Thanks for the great article.